Since draw poker games aren’t the most popular games out there in the online world of poker, the selection of games is a big component of having a good online draw poker site. Some sites will only have one or two of the main draw poker games, while other sites have all of them. Then you’ll need to take a look at the stakes available, since some popular online poker sites don’t spread draw games at very low or very high stakes. In general, you should have an idea of what games you want to be playing and at what stakes, and then see if the site you’re considering has those games at those stakes before you make a decision on where to play.
Another important aspect of a good online draw poker site is the rake structure. The correct rake structure for draw games never takes rake on hands that don’t see a drawing round. So if you raise before the draw and everyone folds, then there should be no rake taken out of that pot. Each online poker site has a page that lists the details of how their rake is taken, and this is called a rake schedule. You should find the rake schedule for the draw games and make completely sure that they do not take rake in these types of pots. If they do, then the game is virtually unbeatable, no matter how bad your opponents are, because the house is taking out so much money.
There are also seating concerns, and the blind/ante structures of the games. PokerStars, for instance, uses 7-handed tables for Kansas City Lowball, while Full Tilt Poker uses 6-handed tables. However, PokerStars just uses two blinds, and Full Tilt Poker uses two blinds with antes. This means that the starting pots are going to be bigger on Full Tilt than PokerStars for the same blind levels, but have fewer players at the tables on average. That means that play will be a bit looser on Full Tilt Poker than on PokerStars. Just keep in mind that the structure of the game can change the nature of the game, even if both games are good.
